Hand-Held Ultrasound of the Lung: A Systematic Review

The ultrasound examination is a surface technique with an accurate diagnosis of pathological processes adjacent to the pleural line. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the role of hand-held ultrasound devices (visual stethoscopes) in the diagnosis of peripheral lung disease.

We conducted a systematic search of literature comparing the diagnostic accuracy of truly hand-held ultrasound devices compared to conventional high-end ultrasound devices, chest X-rays, thoracic CT (computer tomography), or physical examinations to diagnose peripheral lung lesions. ScienceDirect, PubMed, and PubMed Central bibliographic databases were searched within a time limit of 15 years.

The applied search strategy retrieved 439 studies after removing duplicates; 34 were selected for full-text review, and 15 articles met all inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. When comparing hand-held ultrasound devices to chest X-rays, negative predictive values were above 90%, while positive predictive values tended to be lower (from 35% to 75.8%). Hand-held ultrasound reached a correlation of 0.99 as associated with conventional ultrasound with a Bland-Altman bias close to zero.

Being accessible, radiation-free, and comparatively easy to decontaminate, hand-held ultrasound devices could represent a reliable tool for evaluating peripheral lung diseases. This method can be successfully employed as an alternative to repeated X-ray examinations for peripheral lung disease monitoring.